The Skokie Home Scoop
November 29, 2021
Dear Skokie Community,
We hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and were surrounded by those you love most. We know the students were very excited to spend quality time with their families and engage in familiar and long anticipated traditions that may have been on pause last year.
Over the break, we had the opportunity to attend a conference called Learning and the Brain: Calming Anxious Brains. There were over eight keynote presentations from a variety of professors of psychiatry, neuroscience, behavioral and social sciences, and pediatrics, as well as other leaders in the fields of psychology, executive functioning, and mindfulness. We are bringing many powerful learnings back to the Skokie community, which we look forward to sharing with parents, staff, and students. Here is a brief highlight of some big ideas we walked away with:
Fostering curiosity is the best thing we can do to help make us mentally healthy.
Every time we move our bodies, we give our brain a neurochemical bubble bath, which leads to a shift in mood, improvement in focus/attention, and improved reaction time.
We can teach our students about the systematic nature of anxiety by explaining how anxiety unfolds in a predictable set of steps. Anxiety is an ancient emotion; if our brain decides there is a threat, it reacts (it reacts to a tiger and a test in the same way!). Breathing is our best way to tame our anxiety.
Mental health is not about feeling “good,” it’s about having the right feeling at the right time and managing that feeling effectively. We can’t be in a defensive posture about feeling anything negative, ever.
Uncertainty is the greatest challenge to our sense of security. The antidote to uncertainty is giving kids control over their lives. The solution resides in the child. The adult is the facilitator.
We are looking forward to a festive December as we bring back many of our holiday traditions!
Have a wonderful week,
Betty Weir and Larry Joynt
Mask Reminder
Exploring Skokie: Kinetic Wellness
Our main focus in KW the last week has been completing our FitnessGram testing. The FitnessGram is an assessment that measures student fitness levels in the areas of aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility. It is required by the Illinois State Board of Education. We consider this first round of assessments to be a baseline that students will work to improve upon as the year progresses through class activities and warm-ups.
As the weather starts to change and boots are worn to school, please remember that students need a pair of KW shoes to change into in order to participate in our activities. Thank you!
Upcoming Units
Basketball
Team Building
Health/Fitness lessons
Reindeer Games
Upcoming Dates
- Monday, November 29: Trimester 2 Begins
- Thursday, December 2: Holiday Band Concert, 7:30 p.m., Washburne Gymnasium
- Tuesday, December 7: Winter Orchestra Festival, 7:00 p.m., Skokie Auditorium
- Friday, December 10: Report Cards Become Available on PowerSchool
- Friday, December 17: Winter Break Begins after school
District News
Online Registration Open for Incoming Kindergarteners & New Students for the 2022-2023 School Year
Registration for incoming kindergarteners and students new to The Winnetka Public Schools in 2022-2023 is now open on the District website and via https://registration.powerschool.com/family/gosnap.aspx?action=30658&culture=en.
Children who will be five-years-old on or before September 1, 2022, are eligible to enroll.
The new student registration process is completed in three steps:
Complete new student pre-registration forms online beginning November 18, 2021.
Provide the original or certified copy of your child(ren)'s birth certificate and a parent photo ID. Scanned copies or snapshots of these documents may be uploaded during online registration or can be submitted in-person at the District Office, by appointment.
Provide proof of residency and paper registration forms. Click here to view the list of documents that will meet these requirements. For your convenience, all required documents may be uploaded during online registration.
Children will not be considered enrolled until both the online and paper portion of registration has been completed and residency documentation is verified.
If you have any questions, please contact the District Office at 847-446-9400.
Parent Education Sessions from District Partner Family Action Network (FAN):
From our Partners at The Alliance for Early Childhood
We are excited to share with you The Alliance's Fall/Winter 2021 Newsletter to learn more about the organization’s offerings to families.